Rally round Hungerford band

Thu, 31 Mar 2016

Reporter:

Reporter

HUNGERFORD Town Band, although recently beaten into a disappointing eighth place in the London and Southern Counties second section area Brass Band Contest at the Gordon Craig Theatre, Stevenage, proved their ability by releasing a recording of their performance on YouTube via Facebook.

Contesting bands are expected to attend the draw for performance times. Hungerford to be there at 9am, which required them to leave Hungerford at 6.30am, and they were drawn 16th to play, the last performance of the day.

The set-piece for the contest was Harper’s The Mermaid of Zennor, a challenging composition written to stretch the abilities of all parts of the band.

Local bandsman Jeremy Willis said: “This is a very demanding set-piece requiring fast and intricate playing as well as long and sensitive passages.

"Hungerford’s playing, recorded on YouTube, shows just how good the band players are under their conductor Tim Crouter (who is also the East Woodhay Silver Band’s musical director). Judge for yourselves if Hungerford should have been placed so low, but I think they played extremely well and should be praised for their effort.”

Listen to the recording of the band at the contest at: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARml6Ckkl80